Princess has ruined me for NCL.

Princess newbie. A bit younger than the usual demographic. Have been sampling all the cruise lines since the bug bit me about 18 months ago. So far I've been on NCL x 3 (and probably done with them), Celebrity (Aqua) and Disney (concierge level).

We did a 5 night Western sampler on the Royal in a Penthouse suite. We mostly like to keep to ourselves, enjoy the balcony, walk the ship, and chill out. (We both still have full-time careers and use vacation to decompress.)

I've been very pleased with Princess and the Royal in particular. After coming right off the Norwegian Escape, the difference in the ratio of staff to passengers is ridiculous. On the Royal, the room service line gets answered, our drink orders are taken and filled instantly in the buffet, crew seems more at ease/less overworked, service level in general is far more consistent. I don’t need them to pretend to be my friends, but I’m glad to see them *not miserable*. So many staff on the big NCL ships look very much like they'd rather be anywhere else in the world.

Royal has the best buffet I've had on any ship BY FAR. I guess I'd say I'm a foodie, and I disagree to some extent with the sentence "food is subjective", because there are many metrics you can use to describe why food is good or bad. Poor cuts of meat, over/undercooked, under seasoned, etc. As someone who tries to eat lowcarb (okay, less so on vacations), finding good proteins in a ship buffet can be a challenge--so much of the meat is processed, or is “repurposed” into stews/curries/casseroles etc. The Royal buffet has lots of different carving stations, usually several kinds of simply-prepared fish, freshly roasted chicken pieces, etc. And the more complicated preparations are homey (to me) things like coq au vin, stroganoff, etc, and they DON'T give the impression of being made to use up leftovers. It was more akin to going to a potluck held by friends who are good cooks. Pasta is great, rather than overcooked/mushy (I noticed they rotate the pans out frequently, probably to avoid mush). Very good fresh fruit selection. Had decent sushi one night. At lunchtime, a station for build your own tacos/nachos/fajitas is often set up, including guacamole, different meats, shredded cheese and cheese sauce, chips, taco shells, flour tortillas, etc. On the final night of the cruise they rolled out many Brazilian-steakhouse style carving stations (complete with cheese bread), multiple pastas, and fried shrimp.

We did find the desserts to be hit or miss, and more often misses—including in IC. Several things taste like they are sugar-free even when not labeled as such. And I’m not a person who needs excessively sweet desserts. Some desserts do hit (very good Linzer torte tonight). I do miss NCL's frequent bread pudding and caramel sauce station, as well as their complimentary scooped ice cream. Otherwise, the Royal's buffet simply destroys that of every NCL ship I've been on. (On that note, on my one X cruise (Eclipse) last year, I couldn't believe how bad the buffet was. I really had trouble finding things I wanted to eat. It started on day one with a steamship round that couldn't be sawed through, and went downhill from there.)

Unfortunately we both get antsy with long dining, so no MDR or specialities for us, but we did try Alfredo's and enjoyed our pizzas. With the level of quality on the buffet, I can imagine we definitely missed out in the MDR.

Suite: very nice layout. Don't mind the narrow balcony, but that table really is pointless. Steward has been great but we are low-maintenance/low demand. We were set up (intentionally) next to the laundry and concierge lounge. The lounge is nice for the coffee machine and snacks/drinks, but the concierge is basically never there (contrasted with Disney, with a constant staff and free sodas/bottled water). Lounge is seemingly not used often; we were often the only ones there. Not sure if this is a chicken and egg problem ... does it not get used often because the suites are so spread out people don't bother making the walk? And so it's not staffed very often? In any case it suited our needs aside from wishing for the occasional extra soda (as on Disney), and the milk jug occasionally not being refilled for coffee/tea.

Love the large bathroom, and both the walk-in shower and extra large tub.

For those who care about such things, we got the Viewsonic brand televisions in the room, and no problem disconnecting the ship's HDMI cable and plugging in our own to play back our own videos. It's on the left side of the television. Also was pleasantly surprised with the internet connection—better than any NCL ship I’ve been on.

Ship in general is very clean and nice. I guess they must have laid new carpet in dry dock, because the ‘new carpet fuzz’ was still getting kicked up in our room and elsewhere on the ship. Layout is a little confusing compared to NCL's big ships, where the main public decks are straight shots from aft to fore.

The first night out of Florida our room was vibrating quite alarmingly; it was like being in one of those magic-finger beds and I had trouble sleeping (lots of creaking/rattling too), and I worried it was going to be a trip-long annoyance. But it was only that first night. Not sure what changed. (I've been on quite a few ships now--it was NOT normal ship movement.) I believe this was also my first Fincantieri (not Meyer-Werft) ship, and weirdly enough I believe I can ‘feel’ the difference.

I usually blow a few dollars on slot machines on cruises--usually it disappears fast. The slots on Royal feel less tight--my money lasted longer and in fact I ended "up" about fifty bucks (I'm small time).

I did miss the somewhat more energetic vibe of the NCL ships, as well as the large scale production shows (I myself am not a ‘partier’, but I enjoy people-watching), but I noticed that the ship felt “friendlier” than a similar short western I did on Celeb last year.

Overall a win, and looking forward to the next booking.

Thanks for the review

Glad you enjoyed your cruise on the Royal. We also loved the variety of food the HC. Thanks for the feedback.

Agree there is no comparison between Princess and NCL.

They usually repaint and replace carpets in Drydock. Ship is pretty new. 3 yr old NCL is the MCDs of sailing with Frenchfries and Hamburgers.

Thanks for that. If you've ever got the time, I'd be curious on how you see Celeb v Princess. We're young for Celeb too, but have been on multiple trips and love the line. In looking for something new however, we've eyed Princess.

There is a very tasty Alaska cruise on Princess that somehow keeps popping up in my browser....

Thanks for that. If you've ever got the time, I'd be curious on how you see Celeb v Princess. We're young for Celeb too, but have been on multiple trips and love the line. In looking for something new however, we've eyed Princess.

 

There is a very tasty Alaska cruise on Princess that somehow keeps popping up in my browser....

Hmm, the difference between my five-day Eclipse sailing last year vs my five-day Royal Princess sailing some ten months later is a little hard to quantify. There's the food thing. I like food but I'm not *that* hard to please, and after hearing about how great Celeb's food was, I was pretty shocked not to be able to find much that looked good (or even familiar) in the buffet. For example, a chicken dish would be drowned in a thin yellow sauce, dried out and overcooked at the same time. Did like the cheese selection, the afternoon tea, and the early evening sushi (which is now gone from the buffet, available at an upcharge).

I was in Aqua, and the infamous Blu served me the exact same thin strip steaks you can get off the grill line in the buffets on NCL. I tried Blu for breakfast one day, and got the soft 'sandwich roll' style croissants you'd buy at a grocery chain, nothing that even pretended to be an actual flaky croissant.

The atmosphere just felt a little 'stuffier' on X. These were both five night sailings and the level of dressiness was about the same, but on Celeb I was more likely to see people screaming at staff about their Platinum status or w/e. (I know these people are everywhere.) People in elevators on Princess were much more likely to laugh and make jokes. (I realize this is a limited data pool and a generalization, but I'm a people-watcher and an observer.)

One place Celeb won was the Solarium. I'm not a sun-worshipper, so I want my swimming and hot tubs to be partially covered. Nothing quite like that on the Royal. (I don't count the Enclave, which looks very small, especially compared to NCL's thermal suites.)

I saw one production show on Eclipse which was godawful (Rock City). Their lobby/atrium entertainers were second or third rate at best. The Piazza entertainment on Royal definitely seemed higher-rate and had far more audience participation.

Just giving you my honest thoughts--I've only done five nights on each line, so caveat emptor. I just came away from Princess ready to book the next cruise, and came away from Celeb thinking "Well, that was something I tried."

AdoraBelle,

I also like Royal Princess. We were on her in March of this year. But Regal is my favorite. I was on Regal also March of this year. Between the two ship I felt that Regal's buffet was much better than Royals which is great. They had more choices on Regal. And the extra choice were things I like to eat.

NCL ruined me for NCL. YUCK!:eek:

NCL ruined me for NCL. YUCK!:eek:

I do two kinds of cruises:

1) Solo--detach from the world, do some writing, lounge in hot tubs, but don't spend a lot. NCL's solo studios were great for this.

2) Suite sailing with my significant other. (We're still new at this--did concierge on Disney and now suite on Princess.)

So for #1, NCL was workable and I didn't mind the tiny IKEA solo cabins. But even in the year and a half I've been cruising, NCL has gone so far downhill it's no longer worth it for me to 'save' the money (especially since they've raised prices to pay for 'free' perks I don't want). I'll miss their production shows and their thermal suites--and that's about it. I knew the nail was entering the coffin when they turned my favorite complimentary dining spot on Getaway into a "Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville" (upcharge, of course), but the way they treated me when I was ill on a recent Escape sailing (noro or food poisoning, jury is still out) has guaranteed my last 'future cruise certificate' is going on eBay--especially now that I've seen what my dollar buys me on Princess.

I tried NCL. Once.

Hmm, the difference between my five-day Eclipse sailing last year vs my five-day Royal Princess sailing some ten months later is a little hard to quantify. There's the food thing. I like food but I'm not *that* hard to please, and after hearing about how great Celeb's food was, I was pretty shocked not to be able to find much that looked good (or even familiar) in the buffet. For example, a chicken dish would be drowned in a thin yellow sauce, dried out and overcooked at the same time. Did like the cheese selection, the afternoon tea, and the early evening sushi (which is now gone from the buffet, available at an upcharge).

 

I was in Aqua, and the infamous Blu served me the exact same thin strip steaks you can get off the grill line in the buffets on NCL. I tried Blu for breakfast one day, and got the soft 'sandwich roll' style croissants you'd buy at a grocery chain, nothing that even pretended to be an actual flaky croissant.

 

The atmosphere just felt a little 'stuffier' on X. These were both five night sailings and the level of dressiness was about the same, but on Celeb I was more likely to see people screaming at staff about their Platinum status or w/e. (I know these people are everywhere.) People in elevators on Princess were much more likely to laugh and make jokes. (I realize this is a limited data pool and a generalization, but I'm a people-watcher and an observer.)

 

One place Celeb won was the Solarium. I'm not a sun-worshipper, so I want my swimming and hot tubs to be partially covered. Nothing quite like that on the Royal. (I don't count the Enclave, which looks very small, especially compared to NCL's thermal suites.)

 

I saw one production show on Eclipse which was godawful (Rock City). Their lobby/atrium entertainers were second or third rate at best. The Piazza entertainment on Royal definitely seemed higher-rate and had far more audience participation.

 

Just giving you my honest thoughts--I've only done five nights on each line, so caveat emptor. I just came away from Princess ready to book the next cruise, and came away from Celeb thinking "Well, that was something I tried."

Interesting. Thanks for the opinion.

We tend to do longer cruises --10 days minimum, less frequently. Our next is lined up for MSC, but we fell to the advertising of their new ship. I don't expect a Celebrity experience from them.

If finances work out, we'll hit a long Alaska cruise in the summer. After reading about the MSC Yacht Club, I'm a bit sorry we didn't book that but we will be in a suite so...

I think we've been extremely lucky in our trips. We do traditional dining and have met amazing people. Never had a complaint about the food either, and while I appreciate amazing food, I'm also aware that not everything I've had has been amazing, but nothing has ever been horrible either. Always had great wait staff, great room staff, etc, etc.

My wife drug me to our first cruise. I expected to hate everything, now I'm the one doing all the research and planning.

Eventually we'll get around to Princess, happy to hear that it at least lives up to and perhaps surpasses Celeb.

I'm glad to see this thread as I am a former NCL cheerleader who has just lost the pleasure and excitement of what used to be and is no longer under the new management. I never thought I would need/want to sail with any other cruiseline as the reason I even started cruising as I liked the Freestyle cruising of NCL. I don't care to be told when and where to dine and definitely not into the formal dress thing which I realize may be the only thing that I will have to deal with on Princess. I don't dress sloppy but I don't want to pack a lot of formal wear as I'm on vacation to relax and not to impress.

The atmosphere just felt a little 'stuffier' on X. These were both five night sailings and the level of dressiness was about the same, but on Celeb I was more likely to see people screaming at staff about their Platinum status or w/e. (I know these people are everywhere.) People in elevators on Princess were much more likely to laugh and make jokes. DH will be happy then as he is one of those that just can't help themselves when he gets on an elevator and says something that will either break the ice and get a chuckle or will make some people cringe (me included occasionally):o:D (I realize this is a limited data pool and a generalization, but I'm a people-watcher and an observer.)

 

One place Celeb won was the Solarium. I'm not a sun-worshipper, so I want my swimming and hot tubs to be partially covered. Nothing quite like that on the Royal. (I don't count the Enclave, which looks very small, especially compared to NCL's thermal suites.)I did notice they don't look nearly as nice as NCL thermal suites (I love lounging and looking at the view from the huge windows) but I do see they have the heated tile loungers.:D Were the loungers hard to get as they were always everyone's favorite place to be. quote]

Agree there is no comparison between Princess and NCL.

I totally agree with you.

Tony

If NCL is the cruise line for your trip to the Hawaiian Islands, there is a Johnny Rockets and a great Brazilian restaurant, that parallels Fogo de Chao. The Pride of American had several wonderful specialty restaurants which offer alternative dining options.

Our cruise on the NCL Dawn this year, the food was horrible!

My mom and I aren't picky eaters but ugh....we ordered turkey in the main dining room one night, it was pressed turkey...just awful. That wasn't the only bad meal but the one that stands out in my mind the most.

This was the first time we noticed bad food on NCL. :eek:

Decided to go with Princess this time, can't wait!

Happy cruising peeps! :D

Welcome to the Royal Class ships fan club! As I post frequently, these ships are our favorites and you hit on one of the areas that make them different from the other Princess ships..........Horizon Court/Bistro area. The variety of cuisines, the layout the quality of the food and presentation is great.

Now, don't get me wrong. All the Princess ships are like our kids in that we love them all, but the RC ships have that little something that draws us to them. I guess the proof is that we have sailed on them 7 times now in the last couple years and have one lined up in February.

We will continue to love each ship we are on and enjoy the voyage regardless of where we are going.

I've only sailed Princess but I loved the Royal Princess so much last year that we decided we had to book the 10 day southern route for our honeymoon - and we leave in just about a week (!!!!). Every now and then I look at NCL's pricing and wonder if it would be worth it to switch for a cruise "just to see" but with our vey limited time off I would hate to go on a vacation and deal with the uncharges and food and then regret it. We may go on a Royal Caribbean or Celebrity cruise with some of DH's friends at some point - because those are the lines they like, but Princess' style is my favorite. :) We are on the younger side as well (30) but have never had trouble meeting new people and enjoying our vacations either. :-) glad you liked it!

Unfortunately we both get antsy with long dining, so no MDR or specialities for us, but we did try Alfredo's and enjoyed our pizzas. With the level of quality on the buffet, I can imagine we definitely missed out in the MDR.

We knew we'd probably never sail on NCL again after our first cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship. Then we moved up to Celebrity, Princess, and HAL.

Princess newbie. A bit younger than the usual demographic. Have been sampling all the cruise lines since the bug bit me about 18 months ago. So far I've been on NCL x 3 (and probably done with them), Celebrity (Aqua) and Disney (concierge level).

 

We did a 5 night Western sampler on the Royal in a Penthouse suite. We mostly like to keep to ourselves, enjoy the balcony, walk the ship, and chill out. (We both still have full-time careers and use vacation to decompress.)

 

I've been very pleased with Princess and the Royal in particular. After coming right off the Norwegian Escape, the difference in the ratio of staff to passengers is ridiculous. On the Royal, the room service line gets answered, our drink orders are taken and filled instantly in the buffet, crew seems more at ease/less overworked, service level in general is far more consistent. I don’t need them to pretend to be my friends, but I’m glad to see them *not miserable*. So many staff on the big NCL ships look very much like they'd rather be anywhere else in the world.

 

Royal has the best buffet I've had on any ship BY FAR. I guess I'd say I'm a foodie, and I disagree to some extent with the sentence "food is subjective", because there are many metrics you can use to describe why food is good or bad. Poor cuts of meat, over/undercooked, under seasoned, etc. As someone who tries to eat lowcarb (okay, less so on vacations), finding good proteins in a ship buffet can be a challenge--so much of the meat is processed, or is “repurposed” into stews/curries/casseroles etc. The Royal buffet has lots of different carving stations, usually several kinds of simply-prepared fish, freshly roasted chicken pieces, etc. And the more complicated preparations are homey (to me) things like coq au vin, stroganoff, etc, and they DON'T give the impression of being made to use up leftovers. It was more akin to going to a potluck held by friends who are good cooks. Pasta is great, rather than overcooked/mushy (I noticed they rotate the pans out frequently, probably to avoid mush). Very good fresh fruit selection. Had decent sushi one night. At lunchtime, a station for build your own tacos/nachos/fajitas is often set up, including guacamole, different meats, shredded cheese and cheese sauce, chips, taco shells, flour tortillas, etc. On the final night of the cruise they rolled out many Brazilian-steakhouse style carving stations (complete with cheese bread), multiple pastas, and fried shrimp.

 

We did find the desserts to be hit or miss, and more often misses—including in IC. Several things taste like they are sugar-free even when not labeled as such. And I’m not a person who needs excessively sweet desserts. Some desserts do hit (very good Linzer torte tonight). I do miss NCL's frequent bread pudding and caramel sauce station, as well as their complimentary scooped ice cream. Otherwise, the Royal's buffet simply destroys that of every NCL ship I've been on. (On that note, on my one X cruise (Eclipse) last year, I couldn't believe how bad the buffet was. I really had trouble finding things I wanted to eat. It started on day one with a steamship round that couldn't be sawed through, and went downhill from there.)

 

Unfortunately we both get antsy with long dining, so no MDR or specialities for us, but we did try Alfredo's and enjoyed our pizzas. With the level of quality on the buffet, I can imagine we definitely missed out in the MDR.

 

Suite: very nice layout. Don't mind the narrow balcony, but that table really is pointless. Steward has been great but we are low-maintenance/low demand. We were set up (intentionally) next to the laundry and concierge lounge. The lounge is nice for the coffee machine and snacks/drinks, but the concierge is basically never there (contrasted with Disney, with a constant staff and free sodas/bottled water). Lounge is seemingly not used often; we were often the only ones there. Not sure if this is a chicken and egg problem ... does it not get used often because the suites are so spread out people don't bother making the walk? And so it's not staffed very often? In any case it suited our needs aside from wishing for the occasional extra soda (as on Disney), and the milk jug occasionally not being refilled for coffee/tea.

 

Love the large bathroom, and both the walk-in shower and extra large tub.

 

For those who care about such things, we got the Viewsonic brand televisions in the room, and no problem disconnecting the ship's HDMI cable and plugging in our own to play back our own videos. It's on the left side of the television. Also was pleasantly surprised with the internet connection—better than any NCL ship I’ve been on.

 

Ship in general is very clean and nice. I guess they must have laid new carpet in dry dock, because the ‘new carpet fuzz’ was still getting kicked up in our room and elsewhere on the ship. Layout is a little confusing compared to NCL's big ships, where the main public decks are straight shots from aft to fore.

 

The first night out of Florida our room was vibrating quite alarmingly; it was like being in one of those magic-finger beds and I had trouble sleeping (lots of creaking/rattling too), and I worried it was going to be a trip-long annoyance. But it was only that first night. Not sure what changed. (I've been on quite a few ships now--it was NOT normal ship movement.) I believe this was also my first Fincantieri (not Meyer-Werft) ship, and weirdly enough I believe I can ‘feel’ the difference.

 

I usually blow a few dollars on slot machines on cruises--usually it disappears fast. The slots on Royal feel less tight--my money lasted longer and in fact I ended "up" about fifty bucks (I'm small time).

 

I did miss the somewhat more energetic vibe of the NCL ships, as well as the large scale production shows (I myself am not a ‘partier’, but I enjoy people-watching), but I noticed that the ship felt “friendlier” than a similar short western I did on Celeb last year.

 

Overall a win, and looking forward to the next booking.

Thanks for your review. Sounds like you are well on your way to becoming an experienced cruiser who know what the want and how to find it.

We are not new, over 50 cruises on 9 difference lines in past 30 years. Have cruised Celebrity, NCL among others. We are elite on both Princess and Celebrity... agree fully with your assessment that Princess out shines the other lines.

Like you we like to keep to ourselves... do find the best lines currently for us are Princess, Cunard, Holland America, Celebrity, NCL... in that order. But there is a vast difference between NCL and these other lines.

Happy cruising... it is fun to check out other lines.. keep it interesting.

We are booked on the Royal from Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale in November 2017... looking forward to it given your review.

I've only sailed Princess but I loved the Royal Princess so much last year that we decided we had to book the 10 day southern route for our honeymoon - and we leave in just about a week (!!!!). Every now and then I look at NCL's pricing and wonder if it would be worth it to switch for a cruise "just to see" but with our vey limited time off I would hate to go on a vacation and deal with the uncharges and food and then regret it. We may go on a Royal Caribbean or Celebrity cruise with some of DH's friends at some point - because those are the lines they like, but Princess' style is my favorite. :) We are on the younger side as well (30) but have never had trouble meeting new people and enjoying our vacations either. :-) glad you liked it!

Still with the Royal... NCL does not compare.

NCL ruined me for NCL. YUCK!:eek:

Me Too!

Agree there is no comparison between Princess and NCL.

+1

We enjoyed our 2 NCL cruises (Breakaway and Jewel out of NYC). However for me, there's no comparison to Princess. Of course that's based on my preferences. :D

Passengers in full suites on Princess can order food from the dining room menus.

 

 

 

We knew we'd probably never sail on NCL again after our first cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship. Then we moved up to Celebrity, Princess, and HAL.

I'd heard about this but wasn't sure if I should call room service or somehow track down my suite steward, and laziness won in the end. :)

I'd heard about this but wasn't sure if I should call room service or somehow track down my suite steward, and laziness won in the end. :)

Too bad you missed this perk. It's my favorite. We are like you and don't go to the MDR. It takes too long.